captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for saturday, april 4: the centers for disease control sayf its ti masks; climate scientists on the impact of less traffic; and a major rollback of fuel efficiency standards. next, on pbs newshour weekend. >> pbs newshour weekend is madeb poss bernard and irene schwartz.su and edgar wachenheim iii. the cheryl and philip milstein family. rosalind p. walter. barbara hope zuckerberg. chars rosenblum. we try to live in the moment, to not miss what's right in front of us. at mutual of america, we

believe taking care of tomorrow can help you make the most of today. mutual of amera financial group, retirement services and investments. additional support has been proded by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> sreenivasan: we are bringing you our broadcast tonight from remote locations across the country for the third weekend. many of us are in new york city and the surrnding region, t we are reporting and talking to people from all across the eruntry. are a lot of developments in the coronavirus pandemic. let's get started with today's top news. guidelines suggesting they wear toth face masks when out in publhelp slow the transmission of the coronavirus, but it's unclear how many people e participating. president trump emphasized that the centers for disease control and preventionmendation is voluntary. adding to the confusion, the

president e would not be wearing a mask. >> the c.d.c. is advising the e-e of non-medical cloth f covering as an additional voluntary public health measures. so, it's voluntary iyou have to they suggest for a period of time, but this is voluntary. i don't think i'm going to be doing it. >> sreenivasan: there are now more than 278,000 confirmed cases of covid-19 in the u.s. and new york ci remains the icenter. today, governor andrew cuomo said new york will see its cases peak some time in the next seven days. >> the apex is the point where the number of infections on a daily basis is at the high point, and that is the ultimate system-- can we handle thatre number of cases at the high point of the curve? i call it the battle of the mountaintop, because that's what it's goi to be.

that's going to be the number one point of the engagement of the enemy. by the numbers, we're not yet at the apex. wee getting closer. depending on who's model y look at, they'll say four, five, six, seven days. some people go out 14 days, but our reading of the projections is, we're somewhere in the seven-day range, four- , five-, six-, seven-, eight-day range. nobody can give you a specific number, which makes it very frustrating to plan, when they can't give you a oecific number r a specific date. >> sreenivasan: more than 7,100 pe eove died from the coronavirus nationwide, and the number is steadily rising. newshour managing editor and anchor judyoodruff spoke with dr. anthony fauci yesterday about the possibility of hundreds of thousani of deaths n the u.s.

>> you've been quoted as saying that you're not sure these models are reliable. what should american people believe right now? >> well, models are useful. they give you some idea of what to expect. and they can be useful for planning, for example, the number of hospital beds you'll need, or the number of ventitors you need. my experience over many years, judy, has been that you have to be careful, that you don't wed yourself so completely to a model, because models-- as i say ofn and i'll keep saying it-- are as good as the assumptions you put into the model. but having, younow, lived though and experienced multiple outbreaks, from h.i.v.-aids, through zika, through ebola, i can tell you that as often as not, the models can be misleading. so, you have to use them to the extent that they are valuable, but don't be strictly adhering to it to the point where you're

going to be frozen in what you're going to do. an sreenivasan: globally, there are now more th.1 million confirmed cases of covid-19. in spain, officials announcedin 7,000 new fections, putting spain behind only the unite states in thnumber of people who have contracted the virus. ofcis also announced that today 809 people died in the last 24 hours, bringing the totato more than 11,700. but, despite the grim totals, there are signs that the tbreak is slowing in spain; the daily death toll was the lowest in a week. counries around the world also continued imposing lockdowns to help stop the sprs.d of the vi in moscow, streets are deserted weekend under new restrictions. in brighton, england, police patrolled the beach, which has been closed becese of the pamic. and in pakistan, there was fumigation in a neighborhood oucluster of coronavirus cases. in china, there was a three- minute national moment of

reflection today. leaders, including president xi jinping, appeared in tiananmen square. elsewhere, traffic came to a complete standstill as motorists leaned on their horns, adding to what oicial state media called a "wail of grief." in wuhan, where the novel coronavirus first appeared, all movement came to a stop as residents marnud the thre s of mourning. that included staff from one of the city's main hospitals. the chinese gornment reportedthe worker edntrahe virus, and 14 died. across chisana, officials more than 82,000 people contracted the virus and more th 3,300 died, but recent reports fr intelligence officials here in the united states estimate that the acal totals could be much higher. president trump abruptly fired michael atkinson, the inspector general for the intelligence community, late lasnight. atkinson was the first to tell congress about an anonymouseb whislower complaint lt year that aid the president had

pressured ukraine to investigate former vice president joe biden d his son. that complaint prompted a house investd igation and mr. trump's impeachment. in a letter to the senate and house i,ntelligence committe the president said he "no longer" had confidence in atkinson. ng to the associat press, atkinson is at least the seventh intelligence official to be fired, ousted or moved aside since last summer. former ve esident and democratic presidential candidate joe biden says he is gearing up to start his selection procs for potential cabinet members and a vice president. biden made the announcement during a virtual fundraiser yesterdaye and said a commit will oversee the selection process. biden, who holds a significant lead in degates over vermont senator bernie sanders, says he spoke to sanders to let him know he'd been working on the vice presidential vetting process and that he think he's being presumptuous about winning the nomination. the latest developments on the worldwide pandemic, visit

www.pbs.orgewshour. >> sreenivasan: governor ron desantis issued a statewide just this week in response to the spread of the coronavirus. this came after some local counties and cities had already put similar orders in place ahead of e governor's mandate. i spoke with stephen mort from pbs station wucf about the change and developments in steve, the big news in florida this week is that you finally what does that actually mean?t >> that's something that local authorities throughout florida are trying to figure out, the governoris coming out eek and saying finally that there was going to be this statewide stay-at-home order. now, the confusion comes because the governor initially said that his order supersedes all other order ts througho state, that they couldn't go further

than this order put in place. d, in fact, governor desantis on wednesday night put out a clarification order making just that point, saying that all other local government orders that conflict with this, this now supersedeit. the following day, however, on thursday, he did say that local authorities have the ability to do more, that this just acted as a floor. now, you know, there's all kinds ve this does supersede local ment action, then it would open the way, for examor religious services to take place. that's been something th some local authorities have said you can't do. and, in fact, we saw a megachurch pastor be arrested in the tampa bay area for doing just that, the holding church services. now, whether or not the counties in florida can say you cannotha ve church services, we, that remains to be seen. >> i sreenivasan: wh happening on the economic front when peoplstop traveling to

one of the big destinations that profits from that travel and evreen has an enruise ship industry tt's based there? critical condition at t moment. and that is a big engine, partulicar ie lythn soh heute ln the nation at the port of miami. the tourism indusy isi irtsomepathing that we've heard over and over again from tourist industry analysts in this p, art of the worat this is much, much worse than september 11. we saw closures for a short period of time, tourist attract hions, after thpened in 2001. now, we've had disney closed for multiple week disney had initially said that they wengre go continue to pay their workforce, which number some 70,000 people here in the orlando area, by far and away the largest employer. they'd said that they were going to continue to pay their workforce throgh the end of march. well, now, we have news that eyle coming through at the

middle of april. so, when you get those furloughs nemployment rolls. you're goinge and, in fact, roe unemployment s in florida have really, really swelled just over the last couple of weeks. we've seen 227,000 floridians file for jobless benefits just in the last week. that number was about 74,000 the evious week. so, this is an economy which is heavily preliant upt-time work, temporary work, and that tourism industry. >> sreenivasansteve, are health experts that you're hearing cefrom ced that it took florida this long, especially considering how many senior caritizenthere? >> yes, they are. there have been measures put in place earlier on in the game to prolytect the eldommunity. particularly, there's been a ban, a prohibition on visits to nur tsing homoughout the stat

and, in fact, i spoke to a care association, which is an umbrelngla group for nurome facilities and rehabilitation facilities throughout the state. they do say they are concerned. i mean, older people don't understand that they can't go and visit their relatives at nursing hom. nursing homes, of course, they've got to have those critical supplies. nursing homes have got to leave th awo endrk of thee day,t a they've got to come back again. many of them, they tell me, are implementing screening procedures, very tight screening ocedures, making sure that they check the temperatures,he thaty check the vitals of staff when they come back. but this-- as you know, we have one of the largest populations of seniors in the nation here in flora. and, of course, as we've been able to tell over the lt couple of weeks, they are one of the most vulnerable communities when it comes to covid-19. so, that, indeed, is a big concern, as well. know, they're having trouble getting the equipment they need. the mayor of orange county

saying that there will, in fact, be a shortage of ventilators. and he put tt down directly to what he called the inadequate state and federal respon to this. so, a lot of local leaders are not y pulling nches when it comes to criticism of both the state and federal governments and hohow that's left them of supplies. >> sreenivasan: steve mort, thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you. >> sreenivasan: because of coronavirus restrictions, on the roads.ars are no l the skies are comparatively free of airplas. in fact, many human activities that cause both air pollution and the release of planet- warming greenhouse gases cave stopped ord back. does that make a difference in the air we breathe now and ith future of our climate? newshour weekend's christopher booker reports. >> reporter: in early march,

nasa released some startling satellite images comparing nitrogen dioxide levels in china be and aer the coronavirus lockdown. the first, compiled between jauary 1 and january 20, shows the world's second-trg am. the second, compiled between february and february 25, shows the same economy in a near standstill. the reduction in nitrogen dioxide-- the noxious gas that comes from cars, power plants and industrial facilities-- was dramat. suddenlajy,or cities became easo breathe. as other countries have hunkered down, does the slowing of elsmissionsportend a respite for global climate change? those who have built careers studying and analyzing the atmosphere say, well, maybe. >> we've looked at that over the last month, and it's possible its a tiny bit below where might otherwise have been. but there'snough fluctuations that are natural that it's-- that it's hard to say for sure that it's deviated. >> reporter: ralph keeling is a

professor at the scripps institution of oceanography in >> is like turning down the uswnt it takes a whae to notice t the level of a tub is filling more slowly. if it persists, we'll see it. but itak lite e be tippl cdownnd yocan really see the level changing. >> reporter: keeling's father, charledavid keeling, developed the famed keeling curve, a daily reading of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels collected on the mauana loa volcano on the big island of hawaii. it provides a record oglobal co2 emissions. >> the record starts in 1958, and it shows very dramatically and clearly this-- this-- this oscillating pattern and an ovall rise. so, it's a really beautiful indicator of how the world is changing with respect to carbon dioxide. >> reporter: looking back at any historical comparisons-- which, of course are somewhat difficult-- how might this period compare to, say, the 2008 recession or other major seismic events that maybe altered the atmosphere? >> well, if you go to the 2008

global reduction in fossil fuel burning or 2% out of the total. so, it's actually rather small. now, i expect that the reduction in emisndsions this time ar will be substantially larger. >> reporter: what happens when we return to-- if we return to business as usual? when people start flying again? when buvesinesses start tng again? >> yeah. i mean, if the economy comes back, we'll be where we were before, except for, you know, the lessons we've leaparned oerns of behavior that c experiment in man behavior. the natural world does not respond to changes in eenhouse gases on a monly or yearly timeframe. it's really responding on a decadal timefre. so, there's-- there's no real shock from the change in greeouse gases on the natural world. if we come out on a different trajectory, the, thn-eninen t ha different place. >> i actually think that there's a lot that we can learn from

this experience. >> reporter: dr. philip duffy is the prt esidd executive director of the woods hole research center. >> and in the case of climate change, there is this false argume dnt, this falhotomy of, well, we have-- we have a choice between having a safe climate and a healthy economy. and in the case of climate change, i know that that's just wrong, that it's just the opposite. in fact, the only way to have a healthy economy is to have a safe anstable climate. >> reporter: prior to joining woods hole, duffy was a senior policyanalyst in the white house office of science and technology, where he helped formulate climate policy in the doama administrion. t youalter the political conversation that surrounds mitigationfforts? >> well, i pe it does. i think the most viable lesson is: listen to the experts. in the case of imate change, the experts have been jumping up and down abo this for decades. this hasn't gotten any traction, and i suspect the fundamental

reason is that it's hard for people to grasp that that could actually happen because we've never seen anything like it. anyet, covid-19 is an example of the unimaginable can happen. re it is. i mean, we knew theoretically this was psible, but nobody-- on some emotional level, i think people didn't really believe it. we must not have becau we weren't ready for it. and here we are. >> reporter: while the u.s. and much of europe remain at a standstill, china has started to ease restrictions. cars e are back on ad, and people are going to work. and as this animation from the european space agency shows, nitrogen dioxide levels have started to return, as well. >> sreenivasa earlier this week, in the midst of the global coronavirus pandemic, the trump administration relaxe automobile fuel efficiency elpimds which were put in

i spoke with coral davenport, energy and environment policy reheporter fornew york times," about the potential consequences of thisuling. s isve arn rollbac tk ment's lan on climate change ever. it was the first and largest reghange. io was something that presidentc n trumma clihaens p ki wadbey,np administration has rolled back over a hundred eironmental but this is by farostrst term, consequential terms of at the united states has done for climate change, and i think that is why it broke through. >> sreenivasan: didhe auto industry immediately push bk when it went into effect or when the plans rolled out? >> well, the auto industry has been kind of muted on this in part because it's just been completely slammed with both the economic impact, of course, of the coronavirus and the fact

thatompanies are sort of wrangling with the white house over whether or not they're going to build ventilators. but there are now five major auto companies that have act dually sideectly sided against the administration. >> sreenivasan: is this because theer auto manufacturfeel like,listen, i'm already planning on this," or is this the sort of california exception? >> se'o, hwhat's going on with the auto companies. e several auto companies c president trump in the first days of his administration and said, "lomi, the obama istration has put in place this aggressive regulation on vehicle emissions. it's too hardor us to meet. we wa fnt some kind of reliefm that.hat the auto compa nion of the deadlines or ereility ed kind of get s for some of the things they were already doing. the trump ministrationp president trid, "okay, what i'm going to do is basically roll this whole thing back." and the auto companies actually pushed back over the past few

years and said, "no, no, we're not asking for that. please he wdo n otll ro w the they antipated correctly that california and several other states which have moved forward aggrestoue the federal governme, and there was a good chance that they would win. and if they did, what the auto companies could end up with is sort of a scenario-- a scenario where the feder-- the federal government has one seof vehicleeg pollutionations and several states have a different set of vehicle pollution regulations. and that is the auto companies' absolute nightmare scenario. that would give so much regulato uncertainty, a complete different patchwork of standards that they had to meet. and they're kind of looking down the barrel of that happening urght now. so, companies joined with the state of california and said, "look, we're je t going to ag meet these california standards. we don't want to do what the

trump administriooing. we don't want to sort of, you know, head down a couple years of legal limbotihile that-- this hits the supreme court and then not know what's going to happen and know tt there's, like, a pretty decent chance that the trump admistration could end up losing and they could end up with this sort of nightmarela split-state rery-- regulatory scenario." >> sreenivasan: what are the health consequences of this? >> the heealth consequences significan the trump administration's own analysis found that it would lead to between 444 and a thousandreth a rul of orse air pollution. sothese are deaths due to-- premate deaths due to things like asthma, lung disease, other respiratory diseases. on the other side, the trump administration said their numbers found that it would lead to 3,300 fewer deaths from auto fatalities.r thea is that as a result of this regulation, cars will be about a thousand dollars cheaper. and their calculations are that consumcarsill be more likely toe

up those older, less safe cars and be more likely to buy newer, safer cars. and so, that-- ultimately that would lead to fewer fatalities on thean road. that is the calculation that the administration is making. essentiay, there will be more deaths as a result of dirtier air, b aut fewer deaths result of more people driving suwer cars. but you can be d that the legal opponents of this are >> sreenivasan: and finally, what about the economic consequences of aaing this uncety in the marketplace at a time when the automakers are already trying to figure out how coronavirus, how deey coronavirus will impact their bottom lines? >> well, here's another case where the administration's own numbers may well workgainst it. in the administration's own calculations, they find that itn could ge between having an overall net benefit to the economy of about $6 billion-- that's vermu as a result of

those new cars being bought, fewer auto fatities-- or ranging all the way to a net loss to the economy of $22 biion. and this is sort of depending on kind of what formulas you use, how much weight you put on some of these different economic esnseq and, of course, those calculations were made before we entered into a public health- fueled recession with a 13% unemployment rate. hit an indury and an economyto that is already reeling and already reeling from a pubc health cris. and so, it really remains to be seen what-- e how thmbers are actually going to play out. >> sreenivasan: all right,coral davenport of times," thanks so much for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> sreenivasan: that'sor this edition of pbs newshour weekend. for the latest siws updates,

www.pbs.org/newshour. i'm hari sreenivasan. thanks for watching. stay healthy, and have a good night. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> pbs newshournd is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. sue and edgar wachenheim iii. the cheryl and philip milstein family. rosalind p. walter.rbg. charles rosenblum. we try to live in the moment, front of us.what's right in

at mutual of america, we ebetaking care of tomorrow can help you make the most of today. mutual of america financial group, retirement services and investments. >> when it comes to wireless, consumer cellular omves its custs the choice. our no-contrplans give you as much or as little talk, text and and our u.s.-based customer .servicnte wateam is on-hand to. to learn more, go to www.consumercellular.tv. additional support has been provided by: public broadcasting, a private rporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. you're wat

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